June 4/10 16:46 pm - Toronto Cyclists Handbook Published

Posted by Editor on 06/4/10

Newcomers to Toronto have a new resource for navigating the city - the Toronto Cyclists Handbook. Published in 17 languages, the Handbook will be launched at Diverse Bicycle City, a free public celebration on Friday, June 4th.

The event features cultural performances and speakers including Yu Li, a 37-year-old computer programmer. He immigrated to Canada in 2000 from Beijing, China, where he was a regular cyclist. "When my wife and I came to Canada, we bought a car and a house in the suburbs," he says. "But the commute took its toll and I realized the serious social, environmental and health implications of car dependency. I changed my lifestyle and bicycling again became my primary means of transportation."

Joining Li will be Mari Rossi, a new mother who immigrated to Canada in 2006 from Sao Paulo, Brazil. "I could not have conceived of cycling in traffic in Sao Paulo," she says. "In Toronto I began to see that cycling in a big city could be safe. I'm glad to have the opportunity to share my positive experience of cycling here with newcomers arriving after me."

"We're very pleased to be supporting this important initiative," says Rosalyn Morrison, Vice President of Community Initiatives of the Toronto Community Foundation, which funded the publication of the Toronto Cyclists Handbook. She will represent the Foundation at the event. "Improving transportation is a key challenge facing our city, and making cycling more accessible to everyone is a community-based solution."

"This project is a great example of how we can assist newcomers to either continue their previous use of bikes or to encourage new cyclists to choose a greener, less expensive source of transportation is an urban area," says Janet O'Connell, Executive Director of the Bicycle Trade Association of Canada, which helped fund the publication of the Toronto Cyclist Handbook. "Being able to assist deserving organiztions like CultureLink is the focus of the BTAC Grant Program."

The Toronto Cyclists Handbook is published by the Partnership for Integration and Sustainable Transportation, a joint initiative of CultureLink Settlement Services and the Toronto Cyclists Union. The partnership is supported by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Toronto Community Foundation, the Bicycle Trade Association of Canada, Live Green Toronto and Mountain Equipment Co-operative.